Automatic addressing-machine



J. BRAUNSTAIN 2,898,850

AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE I Filed may 20, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 f whirl-11.

Au'g- 1959 J. A. BRAUNsTAIfi 2,898,850

AUTOMATIC APDRESSINGA/LACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 20, 1958 2,898, AIN t 3 he8 ats A. T S 8 sh C O V 11, A A

195 20, may le w Aug. 11, 1959 J. A. BRAUNSTAINY AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE Filed May 20. 1958 a Sheets-Sheet 4 8 1959 J. A. BRAUNSTAIN 2,898,850

AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE Filed May' 20, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug 11, 1959 J. A. BRAUNSTAIN 2,898,850

AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE Filed may 20. 1958 a Sheets-Sheet e 1959 J. A. BRAUNSTAI'N 2,898,850

AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE Filed May 20, 1958 a Sheets-Sheet 8 United States Patent C AUTOMATIC ADDRESSING-MACHINE Jules Armand Braunstain, Paris, France Application May 20, 1958, Serial No. 736,494 Claims priority, application France May 24, 1957' Claims. (Cl. 101-1345) This invention relates to machines for printing addresses on wrappersfolders, invoices, labels, newspaper bands,

etc.

This invention is concerned more particularly with an improved machine of this'general character which pertains to the type adapted to reproduce the addresses by the hectographic carbon-paper process from negative plates consisting of a paper band.

According to this invention, this automatic .addressing machine of the hectographic carbon-paper reproduction type which comprises a magazine in which the documents to be printed are stored,a track on which said documents are fed, a printing station and a device for unwinding and. winding the negative-plate carrying band at right angles to the direction of feed of the documents so that each plate will travel past the printing station, and a power shaft, is characterized in that it comprises in combination an extract or roller driven intermittently from saidpower shaft, and resilient means adapted to urge said documents from said magazine against said extractor roller, a pairof tangent feed rollers disposed one above theother and between which said documents are adapted to be inserted by said extractor roller, the lower feed roller being driven continuously from said power shaft and the upper feed roller being pressed against said lower feed roller by resilient means, a wetting roller mounted for loose rotation on a stationary shaft and adapted to wet the documents prior to the printing thereof, a lower driving roller driven for continuous rotation and mounted on -a rnovab le harness so as to contact the upper wetting roller and consequently carry along the moistened documents to their printing position, 'a lower printing platen driven for vertical movement from said power shaft, an upper stationary printing platen under which said plate band is adapted to slide, means for adjusting the inop erative position of said movable platen and consequent: ly the pressure exerted thereby on the document during the printing step, means driven from said power shaft for feeding said plate band by a predetermined length upon completion-of aprinting step, means for adjusting said length at will, an upper presser roller carried by resilient means at the level of said feed track, a lower ejector roller driven for continuous rotational movement from said power shaft and carried by a movable harness so as to contact said presser roller and thus eject the printed documents, the driving of the extractor roller, the pivoting'movement of themovable harnesses carrying the driving roller and the ejector roller respectively, the displace ment of the movable platen and the feeding of the negative plate band taking place at propermoments of the cycle of operation of the machine under the control of said power shaft.

The power shaft drives the continuously moving devices and members through the medium of mechanical transmission means such as belts, chains and the like; and the intermittently moving devices, that is, those becoming operative at predetermined. and timed moments of the cycle, through the medium of external or internal cam faces coacting with bell-crank levers and other transmission members. In order to aiford a clearer understanding of the present invention and of the manner in which the same may be carried out in the, practice, reference will now be made to the attached drawings illustrating diagrammatically by way of example a typical form of embodiment of the invention.

' In the drawings:

Figure l is a front elevational view of the machine constructed according to the teachings of this invention; Figure 2 is a plane view from above of the machine; Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the machine as seen from the right-hand side of Fig. 1; Figure 4 is a longitudinal section taken upon the line IVIV of Fig. 2;

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section taken upon the line VV of Fig. 2; V

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken upon the line VIVI of Fig. 1;

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are fragmentary longitudinal sections illustrating ditferent elements of the mechanical control system;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary longitudinal section showing -a machine driven from an electromotor;

Figures 11a to 11g are diagrams illustrating the various I steps of the cycle of operation of the machine; and

Figure, 12 is a diagram illustrating the cycle of opera tion of the machine.

On the bed 1 of the machine a magazine 2 is mounted and contains the reserve of documents D on which the 6 may be driven from a crank-handle 16 through gears 7,8 and 9; of course, any suitable driving device actuated from an electromotor may be substituted for the crankhandle 16, if desired.

The power shaft 6 controls the various steps of the 1 cycle of operation of the machine and carries to this end adequate driving and control members.

Firstly, this shaft 6 has keyed thereon a cam 25 actu-- ating an arm 10 solid with the pin 11 carried by the frame of the machine and also with another arm 12}. This arm 12 actuates in turn a pin 13 solid with a rack 14 of which the vertical movements cause a pinion 15a in meshing engagement withthe rack 14 to rotate. This pinion 15a drives the extractor roller 3 through the medium of a freewheel device 15 so that the roller 3 is rotated by the pinion 15a only during the upward strokes of rack 14.

After having been extracted from the magazine 2 by the extractor roller 3, the documents D are carried along by a pair of feed rollers, that is, a lower feed roller 17 and an upper feed roller 18. The shaft of the upper roller 18 is mounted on a support 19 rigid with the magae zine 2. In addition, this shaft is urged downwards by a spring 20 to keep the rollers 17, 18 in contact with each other. The lower feed roller 17 is driven continuously from the power shaft 6 through a transmission chain 21 meshing with a sprocket 22 keyed on the shaft 6.

; ducing the negative plate from a reservoir 25 connected- 3 through a line 27 to the trough 28 in which the wetting roller 3 rotates.

The lower or driving roller 24 is driven continuously .through a chain29 meshing with a sprocket 30 keyed on the power shaft 6.

This roller 24 is carried by a movable harness 31 pivotally mounted on the shaft 6 so that the rollers 23, 24 may be caused to engage each other and therefore feed the document D to its printing position. This pivoting movement of the harness 31 is obtained by providing an arm 32 pivoted on the frame of the machine at 33 and carrying on its free end a stud 34 co-acting with a cam groove 36 formed in the registering side face of the sprocket 30. This stud 34 engages a notch 31a formed in one arm of the harness 31, this contact being maintained by a-tension spring 37. In Fig. 4 the harness 31 and roller 24 are shown in their lower position so that the rollers 23 and 24 are spaced from each other. In a subsequent angular position of the shaft 6 the stud 34 co-acts with the portion 36a of cam 36 so that the arm 32 rotates counterclockwise and cause the harness 31 to rotate about the axis of shaft 6 in the same direction. This movement causes the movable roller 24 to contact the roller 23 and this contact is maintained as long as the stud 34 registers with the portion 36a of cam 36. I

The printing station comprises a device for feeding th negative plate band which overlies the bed of the machine as will be made clear presently.

On the other hand, the movable printing platen 38 is adapted to slide vertically so as to press the document D against the negative plate (Fig. 4). This platen 38--of which the contact surface 38a is lined with or consists of resilient materialis movable between guide members 39 and its guiding movement proper is controlled by rollers 41. The platen 38 is constantly urged downwards by the spring 42. The vertical movement of this platen 38 is generated by a cam 43 acting upon a follower 44 carried by one end of an arm 45 pivoted on a pin 46 and carrying on its opposite end a roller 47 in rolling engagement with the platen 38. The fulcrum of arm 45 consists of an eccentric 46 carried by a pin 48 rigid with an external control member for example in the form of handlever 49 (Fig. 1) adapted to be placed in different positions of adjustment. It is clear that to each of these positions there corresponds an angular shifting of the eccentric 46 and therefore a different, higher or lower inoperative position of the platen 38. Under these conditions the operator, by actuating the hand-lever 49, may

adjust at will the initial position of the movable platen 38 and therefore the pressure with which this platen acts on the negative plate.

The system for ejecting the printed documents D comprises an ejector roller 51 and a presser roller 52 (Fig. 5). This roller 52 is carried by a resilient metal blade 53 normally holding it at the level of the track on which the documents are fed. The ejector roller 51 underlying the roller 52 is driven continuously from the power shaft 6 through the intermediary of a belt 54 passing over a pulley 55 keyed on the shaft 6. The roller 51 is also carried by a movable harness 56 pivoted on the pin 57 and rigid with a lever arm 58 carrying on its movable end a stud 59 co-acting with a cam groove 60 formed in the flange of the pulley 55. Thus, when the pulley 55 and therefore the cam groove 60 formed therein are rotated, the ejector roller 51 moves upwards (Fig. 5) so as to contact the presser roller 52 and cause the document D to be ejected from the machine.

Moreover, the shaft 6 has keyed thereon a cam 61 (Fig.

from a feed spool 69 to a take-up spool 70, after travelling past a stationary printing platen 71 adapted to be engaged by the movable platen 38. The band 68 is held in contact with the driving roller 67 by presser rollers 72 urged by spring means such as 73. From the foregoing it is evident that the rotation of cam 61 produces a vertical reciprocation of the rack and consequently a. rotation of the roller 67 during the descending stroke of the rack 65, which causes a feed movement of the negative plate band 68 which corresponds to the length of one plate, that is to the pitch of the address-carrying band.

The rack 65 carries a lug 65a adapted to be stopped by an adjustable check member 74 during the return or ascending movement of the rack 65 as caused by the return spring 50. Under these conditions, the amplitude of movement or stroke of the plate band 68 which corresponds to each to-and-fro movement of the rack 65 may be adjusted at will.

On the other hand, the power shaft 6 carries a ratchet wheel 75 (Fig. 9) co-acting with a pawl 76 to avoid any undesired movement of the shaft 6 in the direction opposite to the proper operative direction, that is, the clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 9.

Now the operation of the machine according to this invention will be described with reference more particularly to Figs. 11a to 11g inclusive and also to the diagram of Fig. 12.

The different steps of the operation will be located and defined hereafter with reference to the revolutions of the power shaft 6 which determine the cycle of operation of the machine. In Fig. 11a the documents D D D are stored in the magazine 2 and the first document D is about to be carried along by the extractor roller 3. This initial position corresponds to the O-degree position of power shaft 6.

Then the machine is actuated and (Fig. 11b) after a complete revolution of the power shaft 6, that is, in the 360-degree position, (I), the first document D is extracted from the magazine and carried along by the feed rollers 17, 18 to the position illustrated, in which it is ready to be gripped by the wetting roller 23 and feed roller 24. In Fig. 12, it is clear that the extractor roller 3 is rotated from 0 to 225 degrees and that rollers 17, 18 are driven continuously during the complete cycle of operation.

I As the power 6 accomplishes the second revolution (Figs. 11c, 11d and 11s), the second document D is also extracted from the magazine 2 in the same way as D during the preceding revolution.

In Fig. corresponding to the -position of the second revolution, as indicated by 120 (II), the document D has already been carried along through a sub- 1 stantial distance by the wetting roller 23 and driving roller 24. The document D is then further moved to position (II) where it is about to be printed. In Fig. 12 it appears that the driving roller 24 is in its upper position; in other words, the document D is transferred from position 7 0 (II) to position 180 (II).

9) acting on a follower 62 carried by a bell-crank lever Fig. 11d shows position 180 (II) in which the second document D is shown as having continued its travel.

When the document D arrives at the printing station proper, that is, at 180 (II) the movable platen 38 has been raisedbetween (II) and 240 (II) and presses the document D against the plate band 68 and the sta tionary platen 71.

In position 360 (II) corresponding to the end of two complete revolutions of the power shaft 6 the document D (see Fig. 110) is clamped between the platens 38 and 71, and meanwhile the second document D is .fed to a position located just before the rollers 23, 24.

During the third revolution of the power shaft 6, and between positions 0 (III) and'50 (III), the document D is still retained between the platens 38 and 71. During this period a third document D is extracted from the mag zine. I

At position 50 (III) the platen 38 is moved downwards and releases the freshly printed document D (see Fig. 11

Between 50 (III) and 90 (IIl)see Fig. llg document D is taken by the co-acting ejector roller 51 and presser roller 52 and ejected, while the second document D is carried along by the rollers 23, 24 and fed to the printing station.

Thus, the feed, printing and ejection steps of the cycle cover approximately 2% revolutions of the power shaft 6.

Figure 12 illustrates diagrammatically the timing of the machine to illustrate its cycle of operation during which the various component elements of the machine become operative.

Thus the extractor roller 3 is rotatably driven during each revolution of the power shaft 6 from 0 to 225"; the wetting roller 23 is also driven during each revolution from 70 to 180; the printing platen 38 rises to its printing position from 190 to 240 and remains in this position until the 50-degree position of the next revolution is attained; finally, the ejection proper of the printed document takes place at each revolution of shaft 6 between 45 and-90, the ejector rollers 51, 52 remaining in contact from 90 to 135 of the same revolution.

On the other hand, the displacement of the plate band 68 as caused by the roller 67 under the control of the cam 61 takes place during each revolution of the power shaft from 80 to 140 in the example shown and described hereinv Of course, the starting point of the rack movement may be adjusted at will by altering the position of the adjustable check member 74.

In Fig. 10 there is shown a modified detail of the machine according to this invention, wherein the shaft 6 is driven from an electromotor 77 through a reducing gear 78 and the toothed wheels 7, 8, 9.

A contact 79 is inserted in the motor energizing circuit and may be closed when a document D is placed on the feed track.

Of course, many modifications and alterations may be brought to the form of embodiment shown and described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic addressing machine of the hectographic carbon paper reproducing type, wherein the addresses to be printed are carried by a negative plate band, comprising a magazine containing the documents on which the addresses are to be printed, a track for feeding these documents, a printing station and a device for unwinding and winding the negative plate band at right angles to the direction of feed of the documents so that each plate will travel past the printing station, a power shaft, an extractor roller driven intermittently from said power shaft, elastic means for pressing the documents from said magazine against said extractor roller, a pair of tangent feed rollers constituting a lower roller and an upper roller between which the documents are fed by the extractor roller, said lower feed roller being driven continuously from said power shaft, elastic means for urging said upper feed roller against said lower feed roller, an upper wetting roller adapted to wet the documents prior to the printing step, a lower feed roller driven for continuous rotation from said power shaft, :1 first movable harness on which said lower feed roller is mounted, means for moving the first movable harness from the power shaft so as to contact said upper wetting roller and thus carry along the moistened documents to their printing position, a lower printing platen, means for vertically moving the lower printing plate from said power shaft, an upper stationary printing platen under which said negative plate band is adapted to slide, said lower printing platen being adapted to be pressed against said upper printing platen, means for adjusting the inoperative position of said movable platen and consequently the pressure exerted thereby on the document during the printing step, means driven from said power shaft for feeding said negative plate band through a predetermined distance subsequent to the printing of a document, means for adjusting said distance at will, an upper presser roller, elastic means carrying said upper presser roller at the level of said feed track on which said documents are fed, a lower ejector roller driven for continuous rotation from said power shaft, a second movable harness carrying said lower ejector roller, means for moving the second movable harness from the power shaft so that the lower ejector roller may contact said presser roller and thus eject the printed documents, and means for cyclically controlling the movements of said extractor roller, said first and second movable harnesses, said movable platen and said negative plate band in timed relation.

2. An addressing machine as set forth in claim 1, comprising a rack, resilient means urging said rack to its inoperative position, a free-wheel device rotating bodily with said extractor roller and comprising a pinion in meshing engagement with said rack, said rack being moved to its operative position by said power shaft and returned to its inoperative position by said resilient means, whereby said extractor roller is driven for intermittent rotation.

3. An addressing machine as set forth in claim 1, comprising a shaft, an adjustment hand lever solid with said shaft, an eccentric carried by said shaft and acting as a pivot, a lever fulcrumed on said eccentric pivot and comprising a first arm and a second arm, said power shaft acting on said first arm, said second arm acting on said movable printing platen so as to generate the ascending movement of said platen, other resilient means for urging said platen downwards, whereby it is possible by actuating said hand lever to vary at will the position of said pivot of the two-armed lever and consequently the inoperative position of said movable printing platen.

4. An addressing machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said negative plate band is reeled off by a driving roller, the arrangement comprising a rack, resilient means for urging said rack to its inoperative position, a freewheel device solid with said driving roller and comprising a pinion in meshing engagement with said rack, said rack being moved to its operative position by said power shaft and returned to its inoperative position by said resilient means, whereby said driving roller and therefore said negative plate band are driven intermittently.

5. An addressing machine as set forth in claim 4, comprising a lug carried by said rack, an adjustable check member adapted to be engaged by said lug in the inoperative position of said rack, whereby the amplitude of movement of said negative plate band may be adjusted at will for each stroke of said rack.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

